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Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

economist.com

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Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#21

Post by commandar »

teuobk wrote: post #10
cgore wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my mind that is the only reason, because the USSR made a whole lot of them, and then shipped them out to every third-world country. It is for a similar reason AR-15s are so popular here in the USA, because the US Military mostly uses M16s ,which are almost the same, and therefore they are the "cool, I'm almost-for-really a soldier now" gun.

The popularity of the AR-15 is related to the popularity of the M16, but the "pretend you're a soldier" aspect isn't the main reason. A more complete explanation includes: - Lots of manufacturers - Reliable action (depending on manufacturer) - 5.56mm NATO and/or .223 Remington ammo is (or, before late 2012, was) relatively cheap - Light recoil - Tons of accessories available - Relatively accurate - Fun to shoot And a…

The AR pattern of rifles has also evolved into something highly modular in the past 20 years. The same lower receiver can be swapped into an upper receiver set up for anything from long distance precision target shooting to close-quarters room clearing.

Saying someone owns an AR is sort of like (loosely) saying they own a PC - that could mean anything from an Intel NUC to a Xeon workstation in a huge case. There's a common architecture, but it's the flexibility of the architecture that makes it popular.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#22

Post by cranklin »

Okay, I get that the AK is the most popular military rifle in the world, but there are many superior rifles that are just as reliable. I happen to own an AK and - the gun looks/feels flimsy, - muzzle flip results in a nasty cheek slap, - the receiver looks like folded sheet metal, - safety is hard to engage/disengage and leaves a nasty scratch on the receiver, - the magazine doesn't fit right in (must insert the lip first at an awkward angle), - field stripping is easy but reassembly is a pain in the a$$.

The M1A... now that's a solid reliable/accurate rifle.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#24

Post by bad_user »

rdtsc wrote: post #13

> The gun is nothing special. Its controls are unsophisticated; That is main feature though. Nothing special _is_ what is special. When you write code, try to remember the AK-47. Keep it simple, loose components, try to make it fault tolerant if you can. Make it not just easy to use, but also easy to disassemble, inspect and rebuild (design grey boxes not just black boxes). Is there an AK-47 design pattern, or are th…

"Easy to use" is most often the opposite of "simple, loose components".

Building stuff out of simple components, means to break the problem space into multiple smaller parts. By definition, you'll have more components to deal with. It will also take more time to build something usable. Simplicity is actually hard.

In the case of the AK-47, this is an actual example of simplifying the problem and getting the priorities straight. Such works are so rare because people don't think too much before starting to work on stuff.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#25

Post by pjmlp »

teuobk wrote: post #10
cgore wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my mind that is the only reason, because the USSR made a whole lot of them, and then shipped them out to every third-world country. It is for a similar reason AR-15s are so popular here in the USA, because the US Military mostly uses M16s ,which are almost the same, and therefore they are the "cool, I'm almost-for-really a soldier now" gun.

The popularity of the AR-15 is related to the popularity of the M16, but the "pretend you're a soldier" aspect isn't the main reason. A more complete explanation includes: - Lots of manufacturers - Reliable action (depending on manufacturer) - 5.56mm NATO and/or .223 Remington ammo is (or, before late 2012, was) relatively cheap - Light recoil - Tons of accessories available - Relatively accurate - Fun to shoot And a…

> And also, among gun guys, there's at least a little bit of the feeling that by owning one, you're giving the middle finger to people who want to ban them.

Sure, because we all know how safe guns are kept in the USA and no one ever runs amok with a few of them around.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#26

Post by dingaling »

cranklin wrote: post #22

Okay, I get that the AK is the most popular military rifle in the world, but there are many superior rifles that are just as reliable. I happen to own an AK and - the gun looks/feels flimsy, - muzzle flip results in a nasty cheek slap, - the receiver looks like folded sheet metal, - safety is hard to engage/disengage and leaves a nasty scratch on the receiver, - the magazine doesn't fit right in (must insert the lip…

The safety was one of the few obviously 'wrong' aspects of the AK design; not only is it on the wrong side of the receiver for right-handed operators, requiring them to reach-over to engage, but it also makes a distinctive CLACK noise that resulted in many of its users being detected and killed. Rhodesian forces developed 'cover shooting' as a technique for responding to this noise, controlled firing into any clumps of vegetation capable of hiding the shooter.

Pedantry on the title: the AK-47 was never popular, it was heavy and expensive. It was issued only to selected Soviet troops whilst the remainder used the semi-automatic SKS rifle. It was the AKM of the 1950s that became a runaway success.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#27

Post by VladRussian2 »

jere wrote: post #2

>The gun is nothing special. Its controls are unsophisticated; it is not even particularly accurate. But this simplicity is a reason for its success. Compared with other assault rifles, the AK-47 has generous clearance between its moving parts. That is bad for accuracy, but it means that the mechanism is unlikely to jam, no matter how clogged it gets with Sudanese sand or Nicaraguan mud. Designed to be operated by So…

> That is bad for accuracy,

one of the main version around is AK-74, same mechanics, only 5.45mm caliber instead of 7.62mm of AK-47. While not a sharpshooter's, it is a very accurate gun.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#29

Post by jandrewrogers »

The article does a somewhat poor job of explaining the success of the AK47 in the context of the time it proliferated. Because the discussion of such things tends to be dominated by fanbois of one military rifle or another, the good and bad of the weapons tends to be overstated.

One of the biggest advantages of the AK47 is that it could be manufactured en masse with relatively simple manufacturing equipment that was widely available and inexpensive in the middle of the 20th century. Consequently, it could be produced even in marginally developed countries as a matter of both technical ability and economics. Contrary to popular rumor, a number of countries produced AK47s with relatively tight tolerances so lack of precision machining was not intrinsic to its success.

By contrast, and many people forget this, when the AR15 family of rifles was first produced, only a handful of industrialized countries had the ability to fabricate the precision aluminum parts used in the rifle en masse. When the design was exported, the US often exported precision aluminum foundry and machining technology at the same time. That limited adoption as a practical matter.

All that said, the reputation of both the AK47 and AR15 suffer from relatively isolated instances of defective implementation. A well-made AK47 has perfectly serviceable accuracy, comparable to many European assault rifles. However, its operational ergonomics are atrocious. By the same token, the AR15 functions far better in filthy environments than popular mythology suggests; most infamous incidents of documented systemic failure were ultimately traced back to out-of-spec components. An AR15 will not take quite as much abuse as an AK47, but it makes up for it by being one of the most highly optimized assault rifles in the hands of a skilled operator due to the unusual operating design.

In short, both the AK47 and AR15 offered compelling economics because they were designed for and used by disjoint markets with very different priorities.

Re: Why did the AK-47 become so popular?

#30

Post by gaius »

rdtsc wrote: post #13

> The gun is nothing special. Its controls are unsophisticated; That is main feature though. Nothing special _is_ what is special. When you write code, try to remember the AK-47. Keep it simple, loose components, try to make it fault tolerant if you can. Make it not just easy to use, but also easy to disassemble, inspect and rebuild (design grey boxes not just black boxes). Is there an AK-47 design pattern, or are th…

There is a Ken McLeod book, set in the future, in which the world is overrun by a computer virus and the only software that is immune is the firmware in the Kalashnikov product of the time.
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